Tag Archives: champaign

November 5, 2015 · 2:21 am

Wedding at Allerton: Monticello, Illinois

Spectacular weather for a wedding on November 1, no less. Almost hot, near 70 degrees and lovely autumn light as Dirck walked Emma out of the mansion at the rural retreat Allerton, past a pond and to the man she would soon marry.

Allerton proved a lovely setting for a wedding, outside and in. The wedding was in a garden overlooking a small pond and a wooded hillside beyond as the sun started to drop. Inside, the festivities spread out across several elegant rooms including a two story library packed with old books, a main hall where Emma had spared no detail in decorating the tables with vintage travel items, orange and teal colors, and a handwritten letter in an old airmail envelope to each and every guest. She also had vintage postcards on a front desk for people to fill out if they wanted and toss into an old suitcase. We even watched the KC Royals win the World Series in the bar room! It was really nice to stay in the surprisingly spacious Gate House at Allerton after leaving the wedding at 1 am. And in the morning, we stumbled into another area of the manse for a goodbye breakfast.

Big Grove tavern/blind Pig Pub/kopi in champaign

Two days later: Let the wedding festivities begin! We drove in misty rain to champaign, Illinois from Des Moines, stopping in Iowa city to pick up our niece. And in Galesburg at Baked for some okay pizza and watery tomato soup.

The weather cleared briefly when we arrived (and is spectacular today for my stepdaughters wedding). My brother and I snuck away to catch up over coffee and chai at cafe kopi (which was cute place although the server erred in asking us to bus our cups when we left. Really? After we each bought $4 drinks?) tacky. (Although we didn’t mind bussing.)
The rehearsal dinner at the big grove tavern was good. Good steak, pork loin, veggies, faro (must add faro to my repertoire). Our room at the new Hyatt place here is really sleek and light and clean (and quiet!) Very pleasant.

Aroma curry house/allerton/blind pig/golden harbor in champaign, Illinois

Beautiful spring day in the college town of champaign where emma and rocket were our enthusiastic guides. We met downtown…….

Thumbs up for roger ebert’s home town (champaign)

Blind pig brewery

At the aroma cafe, not to be confused with aroma curry house, in a strip mall outside campus. Where we had excellent South Indian food. Good lunch specials. $7.99 for

Emma at allerton

a huge selection of food served not buffet style but instead in individual round trays, each with about eight little round bowls filled with goodies. We also liked the deep frid red spicy cauliflower and onion dosa.

allerton is a huge estate about 25 miles outside champaign near rural Monticello. Built by a civil war profiteer, it’s now owned by u of Illinois. There’s a mansion, other brick buildings here and there, sunken gardens, statues, hiking paths through the woods. We are looking forward to a family wedding there in November.

Back in champaign, we enjoyed the blind pig brewery which has a spacious beer garden and warm and woody pub interior.. For dinner we had classic Chinese at the bustling Golden Harbour, where many Chinese nationals attending u of Illinois seemed to hang out. Huge menu, fresh ingredients, big round tables with giant lazy Susans, perfect for sharing lots of dishes. The green beans, tofu and Black mushrooms were a highlight.